11 ms·

Why not? CNN is complete propaganda without any actual news. I really dont understand how intelligent people can watch it.

Waterluvian 5y ago
As an outsider who has dabbled in American television, this is true for all of American television. It’s incredible how even those who don’t think they’re brainwashed are brainwashed.
- IntelMiner 5y ago
  The news has existed to drive public opinion for over a century, before television even existed. Hell, there was even a book written in 1922 named "Public Opinion" about the very subject. The blurb about it on Wikipedia echoes truer today than it did at the time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Opinion_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Opinion_(book) The introduction describes man's inability to interpret the world: "The real environment is altogether too big, too complex, and too fleeting for direct acquaintance" between people and their environment. People construct a pseudo-environment that is a subjective, biased, and necessarily abridged mental image of the world, and to a degree, everyone's pseudo-environment is a fiction. People "live in the same world, but they think and feel in different ones."
- xqyf 5y ago
  That's a broad brush. There's CNN/Fox News/OAN level bias and then there's ABC. It's a matter of degree.
  - Waterluvian 5y ago
    I’m sure I sound like a crazy person now but I think the matter of degree is a matter of how convinced you are that your news is the right one. Fox viewers likely think the exact same thing. Not that all truth is subjective but the choice on what and how to report definitely is.
  - ceph_ 5y ago
    If you think CNN is in the same league of bias as Fox News, you are in a deep state of denial. Let alone OAN!
    - xqyf 5y ago
      I think a quick glance at the headlines on CNN and Fox News on any given day show them practicing the same type of intellectual dishonesty to further their narratives. I'll give you OAN, that's an entirely higher level of misinformation.
    - Waterluvian 5y ago
      CNN’s front page is just embarrassing. It’s all clickbait and scare tactics.
- rch 5y ago
  It's true for print and news apps as well. There are zero English language sources of real journalism.
  - sofixa 5y ago
    That's a bit too far. The Guardian, Reuters, AP, FT, The Economist, among others are real journalism. Some of them have their biases ( e.g. some FT writers' views skew positively towards the UK), some of them have opinion pieces from all sorts of people which can range from shit to interesting, but they are generally good quality journalism. If they make a mistake, they admit it; they don't outright lie and double down like US cable opinion pieces sold as "news".
    - rch 5y ago
      Fair point, and I'd forgotten about FT. I'll try adding that to my sources for a while.
- fidesomnes 5y ago
  100% true. The experimental gene therapy test subjects are the best recent example.
- usefulcat 5y ago
  The PBS News Hour is head and shoulders above anything I have seen on cable. I consider the latter to be strictly “infotainment”.
JCWasmx86 5y ago
Can you explain why? (I'm not from the USA) I thought it is one of the best source for news about the US/World (Together with the NYTimes)
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- andresp 5y ago
  It might have been a long time ago. Today it is openly biased. Left's Fox News basically. That is what sells nowadays apparently. Pick your audience and make them feel validated. Objectivity is secondary.
- dghughes 5y ago
  I'm not in the USA but I am an English speaking Canadian so I feel I have a familiarity more than other non-US people. And I think I have an objective view not being a US citizen. Having watched US news for 40 years, since my early teen years, I have found all US news has become much more US-centric. CNN was pretty good but it does seem to be stuck in a US only, counter-right wing loop. Fox news is very far right from my point of view maybe less so to those in the US. It also spends its time trying to counter CNN. Local news ABC, CBS, NBC are nightly news and often are what you'd typically think of as news broadcasts. Those three stations tend to be neutral in views but as I said above are becoming more US-centric. There is much less international news other than mentioning wars or terrorism. You won't see a story of cricket scores in India, or a recipe from a chef in Argentina, or local politics news of Ghana. You often will see such things on BBC or Reuters for example. The US political system is a "us vs them" mentality not like parliamentary democracies where there are half a dozen political parties in government. There is a Democrat (liberal) vs Republican (conservative) ideological split. CNN, NBC, PBS tend to be seen as aligning with Democratic party, BLM, lgbt, left-leaning views. Fox, OAN, Newsmax are Republican, military, religious right, far right views. edit: for anyone outside the US wanting to watch US news without the quick edits, fancy graphics etc. your best source would be PBS news.

Waterluvian 5y ago

As an outsider who has dabbled in American television, this is true for all of American television. It’s incredible how even those who don’t think they’re brainwashed are brainwashed.

IntelMiner 5y ago
The news has existed to drive public opinion for over a century, before television even existed. Hell, there was even a book written in 1922 named "Public Opinion" about the very subject. The blurb about it on Wikipedia echoes truer today than it did at the time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Opinion_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Opinion_(book) The introduction describes man's inability to interpret the world: "The real environment is altogether too big, too complex, and too fleeting for direct acquaintance" between people and their environment. People construct a pseudo-environment that is a subjective, biased, and necessarily abridged mental image of the world, and to a degree, everyone's pseudo-environment is a fiction. People "live in the same world, but they think and feel in different ones."
xqyf 5y ago
That's a broad brush. There's CNN/Fox News/OAN level bias and then there's ABC. It's a matter of degree.
- Waterluvian 5y ago
  I’m sure I sound like a crazy person now but I think the matter of degree is a matter of how convinced you are that your news is the right one. Fox viewers likely think the exact same thing. Not that all truth is subjective but the choice on what and how to report definitely is.
- ceph_ 5y ago
  If you think CNN is in the same league of bias as Fox News, you are in a deep state of denial. Let alone OAN!
  - xqyf 5y ago
    I think a quick glance at the headlines on CNN and Fox News on any given day show them practicing the same type of intellectual dishonesty to further their narratives. I'll give you OAN, that's an entirely higher level of misinformation.
  - Waterluvian 5y ago
    CNN’s front page is just embarrassing. It’s all clickbait and scare tactics.
rch 5y ago
It's true for print and news apps as well. There are zero English language sources of real journalism.
- sofixa 5y ago
  That's a bit too far. The Guardian, Reuters, AP, FT, The Economist, among others are real journalism. Some of them have their biases ( e.g. some FT writers' views skew positively towards the UK), some of them have opinion pieces from all sorts of people which can range from shit to interesting, but they are generally good quality journalism. If they make a mistake, they admit it; they don't outright lie and double down like US cable opinion pieces sold as "news".
  - rch 5y ago
    Fair point, and I'd forgotten about FT. I'll try adding that to my sources for a while.
fidesomnes 5y ago
100% true. The experimental gene therapy test subjects are the best recent example.
usefulcat 5y ago
The PBS News Hour is head and shoulders above anything I have seen on cable. I consider the latter to be strictly “infotainment”.

JCWasmx86 5y ago

Can you explain why? (I'm not from the USA) I thought it is one of the best source for news about the US/World (Together with the NYTimes)

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
andresp 5y ago
It might have been a long time ago. Today it is openly biased. Left's Fox News basically. That is what sells nowadays apparently. Pick your audience and make them feel validated. Objectivity is secondary.
dghughes 5y ago
I'm not in the USA but I am an English speaking Canadian so I feel I have a familiarity more than other non-US people. And I think I have an objective view not being a US citizen. Having watched US news for 40 years, since my early teen years, I have found all US news has become much more US-centric. CNN was pretty good but it does seem to be stuck in a US only, counter-right wing loop. Fox news is very far right from my point of view maybe less so to those in the US. It also spends its time trying to counter CNN. Local news ABC, CBS, NBC are nightly news and often are what you'd typically think of as news broadcasts. Those three stations tend to be neutral in views but as I said above are becoming more US-centric. There is much less international news other than mentioning wars or terrorism. You won't see a story of cricket scores in India, or a recipe from a chef in Argentina, or local politics news of Ghana. You often will see such things on BBC or Reuters for example. The US political system is a "us vs them" mentality not like parliamentary democracies where there are half a dozen political parties in government. There is a Democrat (liberal) vs Republican (conservative) ideological split. CNN, NBC, PBS tend to be seen as aligning with Democratic party, BLM, lgbt, left-leaning views. Fox, OAN, Newsmax are Republican, military, religious right, far right views. edit: for anyone outside the US wanting to watch US news without the quick edits, fancy graphics etc. your best source would be PBS news.